load

anything put in or on something for conveyance or transportation; freight; cargo:

The truck carried a load of watermelons.

2.

the quantity that can be or usually is carried at one time, as in a cart.

3.

this quantity taken as a unit of measure or weight or a discrete quantity (usually used in combination):

carload; wagonload.

4.

the quantity borne or sustained by something; burden:

a tree weighed down by its load of fruit.

5.

the weight supported by a structure or part.

6.

the amount of work assigned to or to be done by a person, team, department, machine, or mechanical system:

a reasonable load of work.

7.

something that weighs down or oppresses like a burden; onus:

Supporting her younger brothers has been a heavy load for her.

8.

loads, Informal. a great quantity or number:

loads of fun; loads of people.

9.

the charge for a firearm.

10.

a commission charged to buyers of mutual-fund shares.

11.

Engineering. any of the forces that a structure is calculated to oppose, comprising any unmoving and unvarying force (dead load) any load from wind or earthquake, and any other moving or temporary force (live load)

12.

Electricity.

the power delivered by a generator, motor, power station, or transformer.

a device that receives power.

13.

Mechanics. the external resistance overcome by an engine, dynamo, or the like, under given conditions, measured and expressed in terms of the power required.

7. weight, encumbrance. Load,burden referred originally to something placed on a person or animal or put into a vehicle for conveyance. Both load and burden are still used in this literal sense, though burden only infrequently, except in such fixed phrases as beast of burden and a ship of 1500 tons burden (carrying capacity). Both words have come to be used figuratively to refer to duties, cares, etc., that are oppressively heavy, and this is now the main meaning of burden : You have taken a load off my mind. Some children are a burden.16. lade. 18. weight, encumber.

"that which is laid upon a person or beast, burden," c.1200, from Old English lad "way, course, carrying," from Proto-Germanic *laitho (cf. Old High German leita, German leite, Old Norse leið "way, course"); related to Old English lædan "to guide," from PIE *leit- "to go forth" (see lead (v.)). Sense shifted 13c. to supplant words based on lade, to which it is not etymologically connected; original association with "guide" is preserved in lodestone. Meaning "amount customarily loaded at one time" is from c.1300.

Figurative sense of "burden weighing on the mind, heart, or soul" is first attested 1590s. Meaning "amount of work" is from 1946. Colloquial loads "lots, heaps" is attested from c.1600. Phrase take a load off (one's) feet "sit down, relax" is from 1914, American English. Get a load of "take a look at" is American English colloquial, attested from 1929.

v.

late 15c., "to place in or on a vehicle," from load (n.). Transitive sense of "to put a load in or on" is from c.1500; of firearms from 1620s. Of a vehicle, "to fill with passengers," from 1832. Related: Loaded; loaden (obs.); loading.

The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.Copyright (C) 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers.Cite This Source

load in Technology

1. To copy data (often programcode to be run) into memory, possibly parsing it somehow in the process. E.g. "WordPerfect can't load this RTF file - are you sure it didn't get corrupted in the download?" Opposite of save. 2. The degree to which a computer, network, or other resource is used, sometimes expressed as a percentage of the maximum available. E.g. "What kind of CPU load does that program give?", "The network's constantly running at 100% load". Sometimes used, by extension, to mean "to increase the level of use of a resource". E.g. "Loading a spreadsheet really loads the CPU". See also: load balancing. 3. To install a piece of software onto a system. E.g. "The computer guy is gonna come load Excel on my laptop for me". This usage is widely considered to be incorrect. (2002-07-02)